Alfred F Jones Wizard
by Drama-freakz
Summary: America is in a profession that not many people respect. He is a professional wizard. He has to find a way to make money with this job and now he has to help the police investigate a murder. Based on Storm Front. Rated T for violence and Gore. Human names
1. Chapter 1

"Alfred F. Jones

Wizard"

Had anyone actually read that ad in the newspaper they would have laughed and I knew it. I sighed and crumpled the sticky note that I had jotted it down on and threw it in the overflowing trash bin. I glanced over at the wadded pieces of paper lining my floor and moaned in self-pity. Why? Why did I contain the creativity of a teaspoon? Shrugging off my utter failures of the past, what was it? Nearly two hours now? Yes, that sounded right I began to make myself a quick little doodle of what ended up looking something like my father with a cat's body.

My phone rang then. I stood and padded over to the ringing device, pressed the "talk" button and pressed it to my ear. Through the static and fuzz that came from the line I made out Natalia's voice. I was horrible with electronics really. Every wizard was. They would go on the fritz when I was near. Thus why I decided not to keep many electronics near by. Regardless of my eternal love for movies and video games, we just didn't mesh well.

"Hotel," I managed, "Two blocks over." I gave a gruff response to Natalia's demanding tone and stretched my back. If she was calling me, then she meant business. And business meant pay, and pay meant I could pay off my rent, and that meant I wasn't ass first on the concrete …again.

I clicked the phone shut and grabbed my old bomber jacket from the couch by the door. Sliding the old, worn sleeves around my arms and zipping up the jacket I made my way out of my apartment and into the hallway. I went up a flight of stairs and entered the downpour of rain that awaited me on the streets.

Snapping to myself about my stupidity of not checking the weather before, oh I don't know, not getting an umbrella or any article of clothing that could constitute as a hood, I made my way down the street.

The walk wasn't that long, but people really loose control in the rain. They run around like little itty-bitty bugs attempting to find their way home. I certainly had to include myself in this, for I too was running around the streets attempting to get to my destination as quickly as possible.

After a few horrible, freezing, angered moments I arrived at a nice hotel that was just off of the main road. Natalia was standing out front, her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked utterly pissed.

"Hi." I managed then dashed over to her (The front of the hotel had a nice green cover over it that was protecting her from the rain and frankly, I hate getting wet).

"Alfred there is a bit of a scene up there I want you to check out. It's murder, obviously, but I think there's something different about this. Magic involved." Her thick Russian or Belarusian or whatever it was called accent danced with her words.

"Good morning to you too." I grumbled as she led me inside. "Stairs." I told her when she was about to make a turn towards the elevator. Grumbling she obliged.

"Seventh floor." She told me, as if it would change my mind.

"Not dying." I reminded her and with a huff she lead the way. I was always right when it came to using electronics around me. She was right…well just about every other time.

"Tell me about it." I told her, she pondered where to begin for a moment. Her slender finger tapping her thin lip-stick dyed red lips in thought.

I always liked her thinking face. Her lips pulled out just a bit, her nose scrunched up and her eyes squinted. All barely noticeable, but still it made her look like one of those child movie stars. Of course other than her extremely long, painted fingernails, woman-like physique and things of that manner.

"First thought was a simple suicide." She told me stepping up more of the stairs. I quickly matched paces with her. Although she was fast, I was much taller than her, thus I had longer legs.

"What made you change your mind? And think that there was magic involved?" I pressed, she stopped and flipped around to look at me, her braided, waist long hair smacking my chest as she did.

"You'll see." She said simply and spun back around to stalk up the remainder of the stairs. She paused just outside of the door that read "Floor 7" and turned to look at me.

"What?" I demanded,

"It's not pretty." She warned me as she opened the door just enough for the smell of decaying corpse to assault my nose.

"I've seen some pretty ugly things." I told her, she rolled her eyes and kicked the door the rest of the way open. I took one look inside and regretted it. Blood was splattered from the top of the hallway to the floor. People were attempting to move around it so they didn't get footsteps or hand prints in it.

The victim, it would seem was hung. A thick rope tied around his neck and hanging him from…the floor. He was completely levitating upside down.

"I see why you thought magic was involved." I mused attempting to keep the lunch I didn't have in my stomach. "Where did all of this blood come from?" I demanded stepping back against the now shut door.

"That's one other problem. There, if you look in that corner is what used to be a…person." I looked, there was a face on a small bloodied carcass.

Without warning I heaved. Natalia stepped back as I doubled over, she kneeled next to me her high-heels giving her a bit of height as she sat next to me. She patted my back,

"How are you so calm?" I demanded,

"I already puked once." Natalia whispered in my ear. This made me feel a little better but still I felt myself heave once again.

"God…" I whispered and clenched my eyes shut. "That was a person?" Natalia nodded and patted my back.

"Come on," She murmured and lifted my head to look at her. Taking a napkin she dabbed at my mouth. "Can you stand?" She asked,

"Yeah." I muttered

"Can you check out the scene?" she pulled some of my hair back,

"I hope so." She lifted one of my arms over her shoulder and I brushed her off,

"Nah, I got this." I assured her putting my hand on her arm. I was finally able to stand again and I took a deep breath. Finding this to be a mistake, I fully inhaled the smell of the decaying corpses. Biting my lip I fought back my vomit again. "Alright," I pushed through and took in the scene again, this time, with more luck.

The person hanging upside down had his…no her eye's open. She had short cropped hair that was flying around her face, going with gravity. Her clothes where also following the suit of gravity, a jean skirt folding over her and her shirt lifting up over her brassier covered chest. I walked over to investigate more. Her neck was bleeding where the rope was tied.

I flinched again and felt Natalia's hand on my shoulder, I walked closer to the woman hanging. "Who was she?" I asked,

"Kendal Missy." Natalia said, "32. She was a cashier down at the gas station." I took note of this in my mind.

"And the gelatinous blob of human flesh?" I inquired sneaking another look at the massive pile of human pieces.

"Michael Nancy." I nodded, "37. Librarian." I raised an eyebrow, a gas station cashier and a librarian? Was there a connection?

"Any relations?"

"No."

"Any way they could have met?"

"No."

"No even through the gas station."

"Never."

"At the store?"

"I wouldn't think so."

"Then how are they dead, and together?"

"That's what we have to figure out." I sighed heavily.

"Wrong place at the wrong time?" I suggested,

"It seems that way." I snuck another look at Michael's remains.

"But I don't think that some one would kill someone…that way and use that much magic on strangers." Natalia shook her head unsure of how to respond,

"You're the magician." Natalia snapped suddenly, "Why the hell would someone do that? Just to try out a spell?"

"No. Unless they are a over-flowing-power-house of magic no one would try such a large scale thing just to try it out." I closed my eyes and pressed the bridge of my nose, "Who ever did it was obviously experienced and had something against both of these people. But who the hell could connect a librarian and a cashier?" I shook my head as if to clear it,

"I don't know, but you're going to help me find it out." I nodded, in agreement.

"Hey, can we…leave?" I asked Natalia nodded.

"I'll deliver the pictures to you later, so you can investigate on your own time." I nodded as she opened the door to let me out and into the stairway.

"You have an umbrella?" I asked, she shook her head.

"The rain might let up."

"Okay." I chuckled, "You know I'll never know how you do it…" I whispered,

"Do what?" She demanded with a raised eyebrow in curiosity,

"Be so calm." I snorted, she shrugged, her slender shoulders bobbing up and down as she did.

"I was raised that way." She shot me a quick look, "Now, keep your mind on this investigation. Don't involve yourself with anything else you hear me?" I nodded,

"Wait." I held up a hand, something suddenly clicking in my mind. I thought perhaps someone both me and Natalia knew quite well, might have something to do with this situation and maybe would have a idea for the killer. "Do you think Elizabeta might have an idea about what happened?" Elizabeta was an infamous vampireress. She was in charge of this district in the underworld and might have an idea as to what happened. Natalia's face lit up,

"Perhaps." She nodded, "I'll question her later." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow as I looked into her serious blue eyes

"No, no, no, no!" I said in one big jumbled up word, smooth Jones… I grumbled to myself. "She wont listen to you. You're just a mortal." Turning my head and smiling I added, "She might just have a little thing like you for lunch." Natalia was unscathed by my attempts to stop her.

"I doubt that. Unless she wants to involve all of the human world police stations." I rolled my eyes,

"Like that will stop her." Natalia glared at me.

"She'll know what damage killing an officer will cause." I shook my head,

"An officer about to loose her job." I reminded her. It was a low blow, but true. Natalia's area of work wasn't really looked highly upon by the public, nor was it appreciated by the other police officers. Most people really were either afraid of the magic underworld, or despised them. In most cases both.

Despite Natalia's sectors attempts to control the underworld people still thought she was useless. This was true as well, until someone died or was involved that was not of the magical ethnicity, she couldn't involve herself.

"I don't care." Natalia snarled and pushed me further towards the door that lead to the lobby. "Now get out here. I'll visit Miss. Elizabeta when I'm damn good and ready." She turned to return to the crime scene before she added, "But if you even step a foot in her territory you'll have your foot so much further up your ass then it is already." I snorted as I watched her sashay back up the stairs.

She had a nice ass. What could I say?


	2. Chapter 2

The trip home was certainly not pleasant. People were still running around like idiots and the rain hadn't let up. Quite the opposite really, it had become even heavier and now coated the streets in what appeared to be puddles several inches deep. This made walking next to the roads a suicide wish. Each time a car came even a few feet close to you, you were promptly splashed with a few gallons of water. This happened to me three times before my figuring out it was a bad idea to stand next to the road.

When I was only a few feet away from my building an expensive looking limo pulled up right next to me and a few large looking men hopped out of the car.

I groaned as they each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me into the car. It was nice inside. Tan leather seat nearly froze my buttocks off, low roofs rammed against my head and my knees were crunched up against my chest in the small amount of space the limo actually provided. But still, it smelt like expensive cigars and booze, and who couldn't resist that?

Well I actually would have like to sit in here rather than in where I had been for the last few moments of my life. Yes, it would have been much more enjoyable to sit in some creepers car surrounded by people I didn't know who most likely had murder as at least one of their intentions.

"Mr. Jones." A silky voice began, I turned to face him. My eyebrows pulled together as I took in the face.

For one, I had never seen this guy in my life. He had deep blue eyes that where like a pool of water. I averted my eyes away from his eyes and brought my attention to his nose, where I usually looked.

Another wizard thing, yes. Looking into someone's eyes is like a gateway. A gateway leading towards the depths of their soul. Poetic I know, but never the less it is a very unpleasant experience and seeing as this guy didn't look like the type that you would want to relive his life.

This man had most likely seen things that were twice as bad as what I had just encountered in the hotel only about ten minutes ago.

"Who are you?" I demanded and suddenly wished I hadn't. How unclassy! I couldn't have even thought of anything better to say other than 'who are you?'?. Pathetic. But I still went with it.

"You can just call me Francis." He smiled. I knew by the way his thin lips pulled together that his eyes were sparkling with danger and daring me to come at him. Along with that I could also see that he had been in more that one scrap. His jaw looked like it had been broken a few times but still held strong and his nose, although crooked in parts was a piece of art work. A very attractive man. Not that I'm into that kind of stuff! But still he appeared to be in his thirties, with long blond hair pulled into a wild and wavy ponytail just at the nape of his neck.

"Okay Francis, what do you want?" His name was shaky on my lips as I yet again spouted the most typical response to a kidnapping, or adultnapping in my case.

"Oh I wanted to make you an offer." His eye twinkled again as he shifted his hand to the left of him. I stiffened my hand twitching towards my pocket, which held a charm in it. But to my relief he pulled out a deep brown brief case and clicked it open revealing many stacks of organized green paper. Money.

I coughed. "How much is in there?" I beamed without thinking then quickly pulled back but still the question lingered in the air and Francis lapped it up and took this as an invite to push his deal further,

"A few thousand." He began his fingers drumming on the sides of the case. "Now I would like to talk to you about something." I attempted to look uninterested as he fiddled with the edge of a stack of money. "I want you to lay off of this case with the police." My heart dropped. This man was bribing me to not solve this case? I frowned and contemplated this. "If you do, this entire thing, plus three more, each containing 50,000 dollars is yours." I gagged at the amount of money. That was more than I made in five years of slacking off and once in a while getting paid by the police for some job that I half assed. Hell that was more than I have slash will ever make! Ever! I added the case's pay to the special services that I supplied as a private investigator on the side lines and…nope still a hell of a lot of money. I could pay my rent for a really long time with that much money. Hell I could probably buy my own house. On a beach. In Hawaii.

"I'll have to think about it." I managed after ogling the money as if it was a well-endowed woman's chest. Francis smiled thinking he had won.

"Choose fast. But if you choose not to take the money and you ignore my word and investigate the case I can assure you that there will be trouble." I nodded and the door next to me clicked open. I pushed it open the remainder of the way.

"I'll keep in touch." I told him,

"Good." He smiled at me, "I'll see you in a bit then." I nodded and watched as the limo drove away. Taking all of my money and what seemed to be my soul with it.


	3. Chapter 3

I walked into the building and pounded down the loud and extremely old staircase to my apartment that took up the entire two floors or basement of the building. I had gotten an amazing deal on it and didn't have to use magic; it was a damn good deal if you asked me.

As I walked into the house something small and bald slammed against my legs. "Hi Tony." I smiled catching my balance, my little alien, pet, thing slammed against my legs repeatedly until I opened the door. He ran in, small green legs waddling out in front of him. Chuckling I moved into the kitchen and rid myself of the nuisance that my jacket had become.

"I'm leaving after I take a shower and warm up." I told Tony, although he didn't really understand or care about my coming or going. As long as someone let the pesky alien back inside he was fine.

I smiled at him. I remember when I found him, the poor thing was in a gutter hiding from a rather large scary demon, I dealt with the demon in a fury of flames and ash and then came and helped Tony. He's been the ruler of my house since then. At first he was shy, he warmed up eventually but still, I'm glad I found him. He's nice to talk to. Regardless if he responds or not.

Once I had shed my jacket I waltzed into my bedroom, which was placed in the back of the first floor. I got a new pair of clothes from the dresser and walked into the bathroom.

Flicking on the water I ran my wrist under the sudden stream. Cold water attacked my exposed skin and I stripped off my clothes. Being a man who rarely used technology I wasn't one to want to risk an electric shock if I tried to take a shower in hot water. I was a cold-shower kind of guy anyway.

I let the water run over me and seem to wash away everything that had occurred in the past 30 minutes of hell. Well, not necessarily hell, kind of like the preliminaries to hell, building up the action and what not. The stage was set. What else would go on board?

Taking a minute to scrub my blond hair with some generic shampoo I got an ample amount of suds in my hair and then rinsed. Once my head was completely immersed in water, my phone rang once again.

I cursed and jumped, my feet falling out from under me I slipped and landed directly on my tailbone. I winced and got up. The phone was in the other room and I didn't feel like going to get it. But still it might be a potential customer so I snatched a towel and dashed for the phone. I picked it up and pressed it to my ear. Attempting to suppress my magic levels so I wouldn't mess up the phone too bad I answered a very strained,

"Hello, Alfred F. Jones, wizard, detective, private investigator, what can I do for you today?" A woman's voice responded on the other end, this time it wasn't Natalia's though.

"Hello," She responded, "My name is Izzy." The name was most likely a fake one, but I ignored this and urged her to continue with a:

"Well good morning Miss Izzy, how may I be of service to you this fine day? Something lost? Something found? Something summoned?" I paused for her to answer

"My husband is missing." She said, "I was hoping you could find him for me! Help him if he is in trouble!" I bit my lip,

"Ma'am is this police business?" I asked, I always wanted to be sure before I got to involved on a case

"No I haven't gone to the police." She admitted her voice shaking. Just what I wanted, someone that was too afraid to go to the police. I had this type many of times. The kind where they would think that the police would actually catch them (the person who called) for being the criminal so they call a private investigator with a horrible (mine wasn't all that bad) reputation and use them to figure out some random person as the criminal so that the case will be closed and never thought of again…ever…

Well of course I might just be over reacting, so I threw this thought in the little cabinet in my head and only left it slightly ajar. "Well ma'am I would love to help you find your husband, but I do need a little bit more of information before I can thoroughly begin." Suck it Natalia! I was going to take on this case, if not only for the sake of bugging the hell out of you, but I also need money. Internally sighing I realized I would probably have to say 'no' to my millions of dollars.

"Alright." She sounded hesitant, as if shocked that I would ask for this, "I'll come by, your address is right under here so I'll stop by and answer any questions you might have. I'd rather answer them in person." I nodded my head absentmindedly and finished the call,

"Thank you. Are you free around four? Yes, okay, see you then." I hung up and rushed into the bathroom. I was naked and really damn cold.


	4. Chapter 4

I could see perfectly that Mrs. Izzy was quite shaken up by whatever had happened to her. I opened the large door that she rapped her slender, tanned hands against and allowed her to enter my home.

Feeling like it would be nice, I had tidied up a bit. "Right this way." I lead her into my office which had seen its sharer of visitors.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice." She smiled at me with bright glowing white teeth.

"No problem." I smiled at her and sat back in my chair, "Now," I began ruffling the back of my still wet hair. "I need to know a bit about your husband and ask if I could see a few things." She cocked her head to the side, allowing a lock of pure brown hair to fall in front of her green eyes. A button nose crunched up and her naked lips pulled into a frown.

"Like what?" She asked, a strong Spanish accent flowed with her words. I sighed,

"Name, date last seen place last seen, anyone that didn't like him. That kind of stuff." Izzy bit her lip contemplating what to tell me.

"His name is Arthur." She let that out easy enough, "Arthur Lane." I nodded and pulled my sticky note-pad again and jotted down the name with a very dull pencil. "I saw him just last week. But he was acting odd. Spouting stuff about black-magic and summoning stuff. He actually threatened me and the children with calling a demon to kill us." I jotted another few words down,

"Was he always that interested in black-magic?" I asked,

"No. It was a new found habit." I nodded again at the response.

"How long was he interested in this?"

"About a year or so." I nodded,

The meeting went on normally, I asked questions and she shakily responded, each time thinking about her answer thoroughly before saying it so she wouldn't biff up and tell me something that she didn't want me to know. After I had gotten all the information I could out of her she handed me a number as well as a small manila envelope. I nodded at her and led her out of the house and assured she made it safely out of the building before returning to my desk, plopping down and dumping the contents of the envelope on the desk.

Something round and heavy thudded against the table. Although it was no larger then my palm it still made a sufficient dent in the wood of my desk. I would have to fix that later.

I picked up the smooth see through item. All it was, was a small glass orb. Nothing that could be used to summon anything, so why had she given this to me?

Turning the smooth glass in my hand I reached in the envelope again to assure it was empty. Sighing when my hand exited the paper with nothing I placed the rock back in and shoved it into my desk.

"Tony!" I called and the small alien rounded the corner,

"Bitch?" He asked, he was so cute when he talked.

"Yeah, I'm going out to the bar." I told him, "I'll bring you back something if I don't eat it all." He grinned (or at least I think he did) up at me as I fetched a simple hoodie and an umbrella and left my home with Tony roaming the hallways as he pleased.

**Sorry about the short chapter this time! But I just wanted to take this opportunity and say that this is a bit of a honor to the Harry Dresden series, although the beginning sounds a lot like it I can assure you that it will stray for certain. Nyotalia or Fem! Hetalia is included (I made Spain a woman just for the kicks of it) and there will be some coupling! So thank you for those that have read thus far and expect more chapters soon! **


	5. Chapter 5

The trip to the bar was just as enjoyable as the trip to the murder scene. Or back. Wet, cold, and angry. People were almost non-existent, but still if there was someone they were freezing and bitchy.

"Finally." I mused when I entered the bar. Warm air blasted my face as I stepped inside. I removed my black hoodie to reveal a plain white t-shirt. Sadiq stood behind the bar scrubbing away at a mug. He nodded at me as I entered and walked to the edge to greet me.

"What'll it be?" He asked,

"Number three." I told him, ah the number three! A spectacular meal that I got only on …what day was it? Well what ever, I got on days that ended in D-A-Y. It was that good. A small steak medium-rare, a bit red and bloody in the middle, smothered in steak sauce of the highest level of deliciousness wedged between two perfectly baked buns. Soft and air-like in the middle with a nice crunch on the outside. On the side cheesy mashed potatoes, and perfectly seasoned green beans.

I felt like treating myself tonight and I would! After such a long day of work I deserved it, besides that I had been craving this all week.

"Got it." Sadiq nodded at me and disappeared into the back to go prepare the food.

"And a beer!" I called back, he flashed me a thumbs up on a nicely tanned thumb to show he heard me.

I smiled, "Alfred, you've done good." I told myself as I took a seat at the bar. It was really empty for this time of day. The ten stools only held about six people most of which in one big group chatting with one another about some spell, or some weird hex that their relative had been put under. Whatever it was I didn't care.

The door opened again and the bell alerted Sadiq out of his cooking. He turned to see who it was at the same time I did.

She sashayed in dark skin, black-brown hair pulled into pigtails at her shoulders and a light blue dress. I recognized her, Sey; she was a reporter for a local newspaper that obsessed over magic and such. Usually they wrote bull-crap stories about stuff no one (even myself) cared about. She was one of the worst. She always took my word wrong and then added something new to make Natalia look bad. Whatever, she probably wasn't in here for me. Ah, who was I kidding? She planted herself right next to me and rested her hand on her cheek, propping her elbow up against the wood of the bar for support.

"Hello Alfred." Sey smiled at me. I nodded and watched as Sadiq placed a beer in front of me.

"Hi Sey, how's business going?" She huffed,

"Bad." She grumbled, "Nothing new other than bull shit crop circles and stuff like that." I nodded, "Had I psycho the other day actually." I nodded and motioned for her to continue. "He was raving about something like 'the bees are coming again!' nothing really interesting, but of course I had to write an article about it. He was the only one that brought up something that wasn't how our company needed more funding."

"Well, I'm sure people will take you all seriously at some point." I told her. She nodded.

"Someday. Oh hey Sadiq! Can you make me up a 8?" Sadiq flashed another thumbs up. Oh the number eight, I've had it before, just plain old Mac and Cheese but he adds a bit more flair to it. He flavors it with wine and adds these exotic cheeses and herbs. Makes it worth so much more than what he charges.

Sadiq placed the steamy meal in front of me and it was mostly devoured within the short moment of his setting it down. I felt the meat fill me up to the brim with thick tender steak and I was content. Sitting back I realized Sey had just then received her meal and had been starring at me this entire time.

"Sorry." I muttered although I felt like I had nothing to be sorry for. But still in an awkward silence isn't the first two things to come out of your mouth either 'so' or 'sorry'? Well that was the case here. She shrugged and stuck her fork deep within the cheese of the meal in front on her and swirled her fork around a bit. I nodded and bit my lip a bit in the awkward feeling that she was radiating.

That feeling that she had something to ask me crept over my back and suffocated me so even a simple breath felt as painful and unwanted as satin himself. "So…" I had used the second of the awkward silence no-noes. What was next?

"Yep." She replied, the most common reply if I do say so myself.

"I think I have to get home. Tony and all that." I muttered, She nodded

"Yeah. Oh yeah Tony." She obviously had no idea who Tony was so I clarified with a quick,

"My cat." Chugged down the rest of my beer and wrapped up the food in one of the plastic containers placed on the counter, set a twenty dollar bill on the table and walked out.

"Food was only eight." Sadiq yelled,

"I'm paying for the lady." I responded. He shrugged and picked up the bill and promptly shoved it in his apron pocket.

"Fun times." I murmured to myself as I slipped out of the restaurant and donned my hoodie. As I placed the familiar fabric over my head an even more familiar car pulled up. Natalia pushed open the door and motioned me to get in.

"Another one Alfred." She snapped and I hopped in the car obeying her silent command.

"What happened?" I asked drawing the food from my jacket. She held out a hand as if demanding I let her eat it. Sighing I put the plastic container in her small hands and she cracked it open and drew out the sandwich that was lay inside of it. Taking a large bit she muttered,

"Haven't had anything to eat in frickin' hours."

"Did you have breakfast?" I asked attempting to make conversation while she ate. See as speaking about mutilation and gore isn't a very fun topic to talk about while you eat.

"No. Didn't eat breakfast or lunch today and didn't have dinner yesterday." She growled at me. "I've been working too long and too hard." I nodded as she scarfed down the last of the sandwich and went to eating the potatoes with the plastic fork I had picked up in case I didn't want to do dishes.

"So what happened?" I repeated to bring the subject back to that.

"Same thing."

"Human mutilation?"

"No the hanging." Oh so that is what we were focused on.

"Ah. The upside down one." She nodded, "Do you think that the human explosion was even more of a focus point then the hanging?" She shook her head slowly.

"They're equal." She snapped. "We got another person killed with the one hung that was supposedly completely torn apart as well." I shook me head in disgust.

"Alright." I chuckled, "Let's go check it out." This was a horrible idea; I thought as we drove on towards the scene, I just had a delicious diner. I don't want to loose it.


	6. Chapter 6

**I hope the length and the action makes up a bit for the time it took me to write this. A lot happens in this chapter really. I was considering doing multiple chapters but hey, why not one. **

**Please review! **

She turned the car slowly turned into a narrow road. I raised an eyebrow. This was a normal cul-de-sac, not some fancy hotel or some rich neighborhood like I had suspected. The houses were especially small, each one most likely smaller than my apartment and probably cost a lot less as well.

"Is this where the murder was?" I demanded, Natalia shook her head without taking her eyes off of the slowly dimming road.

"I need to pick something up." She grumbled, I raised an eyebrow at her. She lived here? She pulled her car into one of the driveways and killed the engine. She was actually serious. I muttered internally as I looked over at her.

"Come in if you want, it's nothing much." I nodded and unbuckled my seatbelt. She did the same and cracked open the tan door and pushed it open with her knee. Her eyes flicked from me to the drive way again and again as she slowly made her way up to the front door and took a pair of keys from her pocket. Jamming into the lock she twisted and it clicked open. She pushed the door open with her toe and stepped in, holding it for me as she did.

The house was decently furnished, but still dirty dishes and clothes lay scattered about the front room which made an automatic turn into the hallway which mostly lead into the bathroom and the bedroom. A small TV was propped up on a book shelve and surrounded with old and new books and records. A few pictures were scattered here and there.

Natalia walked back into the hallway to get what ever it was she needed. I stepped forward towards the picture. In most of them it was snowing. She was standing, in one, with a rather tall man with a nervous smile as well as a heavily busted woman with a hand lightly on her shoulder. Natalia had her arms completely wrapped around the man's stomach. I smiled, she had a soft side. I thought as I moved my gaze down to the next pictures,

School pictures, pictures of family reunions all very pale and white. But still it appeared as you went down the line she looked less and less happy and more and more alone. Perhaps it was the way that she had organized the pictures that made it seem this way but still as I moved my gaze to what would have been the very end I saw her standing alone next to what must have been her old patrol car, with nothing even close to attempting a smile.

"What are you doing?" I heard her rough voice demand from behind me,

"Just looking." I said coolly, attempting not to show her that she had scarred the living daylights out of me.

"Good, now come on. They're expecting us." I nodded and trotted over to meet her by the door. I noticed her shoot one more glance at the wall of pictures before shutting and locking the door behind us.

Natalia moved swiftly towards the car but I took more time, I wanted to make sure I memorized where this place was if and when I even needed to find it again.

"Get in." Natalia snapped as she wrenched open the door and slipped in side, I followed suit and slid in next to her. Buckling her seat belt and starting the car she pulled out of the driveway.

"We've got an hour drive." She snapped keeping her eyes darting along the road assuring she didn't run over some of the rabbits or squirrels that dashed across the road. She cursed as she drove on and I moaned silently, a hour long drive with her? How would I survive?

Driving with her wasn't as unpleasant as I previously believed it was. Regardless of the fact that she had mercilessly ruined Tony's chances of getting something to eat that night that wasn't spagettio's she was actually being nice to me.

Most of the conversations revolved around me. I didn't like this fact that she was prying so much information out of me but still; she was a cop. That's what cops do. They secretly are able to get you to tell them whatever the hell they want. By then I had pretty much told her my life story of how I was a British stage magician's son, never met my Native mother and how my father died, or disappeared, when I was at a very young age. I also spilled how I was raised by some wizard named James and how I had…I had cut off there. She raised an eyebrow at me when I suddenly stopped talking. Choking on my own words and forcing back the sentence that had nearly stumbled out of my mouth and into her waiting ears, the sentence "I killed him." Almost escaped.

He shook my head as she cleared her throat.

"Alright." She said as if to end to conversation, I pushed my glasses up on my nose and buried deeper into my jacket.

"What do you think?" I asked as we pulled into a large lot where police cars and several other emergency vehicles where parked in front.

"Huh?" She demanded, her bright eyes glared up at me as they darted from my face to the road in front of us.

"Nothing." I muttered, I was going to ask what she thought about these murders. But I knew what she thought, they were business and needed to be stopped. The pulled the car to a halt and removed the keys from the blinking ignition. Kicking open the door she fixed her skirt. I followed her but instead of the grace and silk like movements I smacked my head on the roof of the car and my knee on the door as I exited. No one paid my second-long struggle as I shut the door shut behind me furiously.

I pounded up to Natalia still a bit peeved at my newly made nemesis. Her car door. I would have to accidentally kill it later.

"Let's get inside." She said and flashed her badge to the two officers standing by the door. I drew my badge from my pocket as well. It wasn't as fancy or official as Natalia's but it worked. It was just a laminated piece of paper that Natalia had scribbled "Jones" on and signed in comparison to her fancy laminated piece of plastic with her picture on it.

We stepped in and the first thing that hit me in the face was the extremely beautiful décor of the house. Tapestries lined the walls, carpets were tossed perfectly along the surface of the wooden floors and wicker furniture was placed around the room I nodded at the class this guy had and trailed my gaze over to Natalia. She was standing perfectly still, her muscled arms crossed across her breasts and her weight on her left foot. Her eyes roamed around the room taking in the room. My eyes traveled along the length of her.

I had to admit she was quite the eyeful. Her braid was now sloppy and slung over her shoulder, her usual earrings clung to her ears and her adorable nose scrunched up. I shook off the thought quickly that I might have a thing for her and continued to watch her until she began moving again.

"This way." She motioned as she finally noticed a large amount of police officers around a single room. "Get out of the way." She snapped to the taller officers in front of her, in between her and the scene. When we walked in the scene was the same as before, but this time a male. His bright brown eyes were faded and starring into the nothingness. His dark lips were open wide as if he had been screaming of gasping for breath in his death. Understandable.

His clothes were the same as before, a t-shirt pulled up to his chin exposing his dark and toned stomach. I stepped forward towards him. Blood dribbled still from around the neck and into the rough rope around his neck.

"Fresh." I whispered and looked around the room.

"Did you check all the other rooms?" Natalia barked,

"Yes, only one person hasn't come back to assure his was empty." A tall red-headed man with freckles said, he was in his twenties but looked prematurely graying. He had shaking brown eyes as he glanced from Natalia to the body and back to Natalia.

"Well where is he?" She hissed

"She's up stairs ma'am. Looking in the master bathroom." He spouted Natalia's eyes flashed furiously as she pushed back the people and walked towards the stairs,

"Come on Jones." She called over her shoulder. I shoved past all of the other people in my way and caught up with the short woman. She stormed up the stairs determination in her eyes.

"What?" I demanded,

"That blood was too fresh." She snapped, "I think the killer called it in." I quirked an eyebrow up at this,

"What? Who in their right mind would do that?" I demanded,

"No one. No one that was actually at the scene." She added quickly. When she was angry or this serious her accent really started to dwindle away.

"So you think the killer set up a trap?" I asked,

"That's the idea." Natalia nodded. "Here." She motioned towards an open door, She drew her gun, just in case and flicked the safety off. Her finger rested on the slender metal just above the trigger as she used her high heel to tap the door open. She staggered back once the door was open and then froze. The mutated body of a young female officer lay on the ground. I gasped and Natalia tensed. Quite the role reversal but that wasn't the point. The point was that there was some dead chick sitting on the ground, a cop none the less.

The shower curtain seemed to dance as we entered. Natalia's purple eyes narrowed as she moved towards it and yanked the curtain back. A loud booming voice erupted from the shower

"**_defungo!" _****It shouted. I acted. I new that curse and I launched myself forward with a counter blocking Natalia as I did, I sputtered "return" in a foreign tongue. My hand snaked out around Natalia. She gasped as my large form wrapped around her and drove her to the ground. **

** The culprit screamed once, more of a laugh, and disappeared without a word. I slid the curtain open the rest of the way and there was no trace. No blood. No hair. Nothing. **

** I spun around and saw Natalia pulling herself out of the pool of blood that the other officer her created. She looked at me, her eyes wide. **

** "What?" She asked, I had a lot of explaining to do. **


	7. Chapter 7

** My mouth open and shut in a desperate attempt at making words come out. Nothing happened. Natalia pressed her eyebrows together angrily as if she was as irritated, if not more, as I was at the situation. **

** "Ten minutes earlier." She snapped to herself, "and that could have been avoided. Damn it! Why am I so stupid?" She cursed. **

** We were sitting in her office now, the majority of the work we needed to get done at the scene of the crime done. The murderer, who had nearly killed me and Natalia both, was now missing once again and frankly I was sure both me and Natalia wanted to wring his little neck. **

** Natalia's office was small and very cheap. The cubical which she spent most of her time in was surrounded by a cheap plastic, from about ten maybe twenty feet you could mistake it for glass. It was had a bulletin board covering the right wall and the back wall. The surface of the board was covered in maps, résumés, and case files. It probably had some kind of organization to it but whatever it was, it wasn't obvious. **

** In the middle of her office was a small wooden desk. It took up nearly 80% of the space and you had to squeeze around it on either side to get through the office. But still, this place was almost like a second home to me now. **

** "Well, I don't know what we could have done differently." I sighed rubbing my index finger and thumb against my temples. Natalia looked down at her lap, her platinum blonde bangs draping over her pale and now crinkled up forehead. **

** She had taken her hair out of the braid. The platinum locks fell over her shoulders and past her back in waved cascades. She ran a quick hand through the length of the hair and then tapped neutral colored, long fingernails on the wood of her desk. Small dents and gouges in the wood told you that she did this a lot and at some points with a bit too much strength. **

** "Not gone to my house for one." Natalia snapped, she obviously put a large bit of the blame on herself, although, if anyone, it should have been me that blamed themself. A wizard in that close of an area to me and I couldn't feel a thing out of the ordinary. I'm pathetic. **

** "It's not your fault." I tried to assure her. **

** "It is." She growled, I knew she would get over it soon enough but still she seemed so sincere about her frustrations. **

** "Alright, let's just get this Q and A thing over with so we can both go home and sleep. It's nearly midnight." I reminded her in a feeble attempt to get her out of her pitiful mindset. **

** "Fine," She said after a long moment's pause. "Do you have any idea who this man could have been?" A very vague question. **

** "A wizard." I told her sarcastically. She didn't as much as raise an eyebrow at the attempted joke. **

** "Next," She grumbled, "Any recognition of his magic, his voice, did you see him?" Natalia sent the questions rapid-fire in my direction. **

** "No," I began to answer, "You can't really recognize one person's magic from another. There isn't a specific color or feel to it. All you really know is that it's magic and you probably shouldn't get to close to it." Natalia sighed and motioned for me to continue, "As for the voice, I've never heard it before in my life. He sounded British or from somewhere around there." I told her, she nodded again this time looking up at me through her long bangs. My heart did a bit of a leap in my chest when I met her eyes. I brushed off the feeling and continued, "No. I didn't see him. Sorry I can't be of much help Talia." She shrugged and stood. **

** "That's all I have for now." Her velvet voice told me, "I'll drive you back to the bar." I informed me and packed up her items before heading down the hall and down the stairs towards the parking lot. **

** Cold air, and surprisingly no rain, assaulted the two of us as we stepped out of the old, brick, building. Natalia pushed through it like it was nothing. Living most of her life in Russia probably made her immune to the cold or something like that. **

** We both stepped into her car and I glared at the door, knowing that deep down, it was glaring back. Natalia didn't attempt to make any conversation with me until we were out onto the main road. Instead she flicked on the radio and sat in silence. **

** "It starts at my toes and I-" with a quick hand Natalia changed the channel, "You wanna know how to make me smile, take control-" Another quick change in the channel, "-Crazy bitch, but you –" She stiffened at this one and shot an angry glance over at me as if I was to blame. **

** "Don't look at me." I put up my hands in defense. Finally Natalia decided on pulling out one of her CD's and popping it into the slot above the radio. **

** Smooth music started out the song and then with a jolt of noise it started in on a loud guitar solo. She looked completely appeased by the music until I reached forward and turned down the sound, **

** "Hey, Talia?" I asked her, she looked up at me with cold, exhausted eyes. **

** "What?" She demanded and then flashed her eyes back onto the road. **

** "What do you do when you aren't at work?" I asked. She let out a long breath but didn't answer. Her eyes still glued to the road. **

** "Work." She told me. I chuckled, **

** "You mean you never go out with your friends or something?" I instantly regretted it, I knew she probably didn't have much friends. **

** "All of my friends are back in Russia." She told me her eyes harsh and empty. She missed Russia and I knew it. **

** "How long you live in Russia?" I asked, these were questions that I should probably know already. Considering we had worked together for several years now. **

** "Only 1. I lived in Belarus the rest of the time." She made a quick right turn into the bar's parking lot and stopped the car in the spot. **

** "Can't get a ride home?" I asked, she shook her head, **

** "Opposite way then the one I'm going." I smiled at the response and hesitantly reached over to her. I had no idea what I was doing but there was no going back now. I patted her cheek. Her hand flashed up and swatted mine away. Shaking my head I noticed that her hand lingered on mine a bit too long and she swiftly pulled it away.**

** "Get out of my car, Jones." She sighed her tone venomous. I didn't budge from my spot once I regained my hand, **

** "Hey, about that friend thing…" **

** "What about it?" Natalia demanded her eyes finally turning to meet mine. **

** "Do you want to do something sometime?" I asked, my hopes up and through the roof. Shrugging she said simply, **

** "Maybe." Playing hard to get, or maybe not playing at all. I couldn't decide.**

** "Saturday, I'll pick you up at eight?" I asked she didn't answer and I smiled, "See ya then. Drive safe now." I told her as I clambered out of the car and slammed the door a bit harder then necessary. That'll teach the damn thing to mess with me. **

** I watched as Natalia drove away into traffic. Standing there in the dark, right outside a bar, in the freezing cold might have sounded good for some people, but not for this guy. I turned once Natalia was out of eyesight and made for home. **

** Thoughts flashed through my head. There was something wrong with just about everything now wasn't there? Murders one after the other, some Spanish chick that probably killed her husband, Natalia throwing a self-pity party and I was the quest of honor, besides that I think I might be getting a romantic feeling for Natalia and even more to add I just asked her out on a date. **

** I shook my head to clear it, but this did little good. The murderer was two feet away from me! Two! I couldn't even catch him then. I remember his voice, the way he smelt even, but why couldn't I have seen his face? Why were there no fingerprints or even shoe prints on the bathtub or curtain? How did that female officer die while there were so many others surrounding her? It all amazed me. Was I just that horrible? **

** On top of that I had little to no leads on this missing person. **

** To top even that I had to figure out a way to impress Natalia in only two short days!**

** No. I'm the hero! I had to remember this. I needed to get one job done and then the next. My main focus right now shouldn't be Natalia, it should be the murders, then the missing dude and then Natalia. **

** I pressed my hands together and sighed. I would figure this out one way or another. I just would have to think. I thought about it the rest of the way home, it didn't even once come close to being fixed. **

** Stepping down the stairs towards my apartment Tony rammed against my legs again. I scratched his head absentmindedly and made to open the door. He rushed in before I could even blink, but then he slowed and backed up to me once again. **

** Sitting on one of my sofas was none other than Francis. He had a smug smile on and only had one body guard at his side. **

** "What a home you have here." He smiled falsely and motioned for me to come over. His eyebrows wriggled in an odd fashion and made me even more suspicious, **

** "I'll take that as a compliment." I said with as much assertiveness in my voice as I could possible muster up.**

** "You should." Francis moved long slender fingers to join in front of his face. "I'm generally one to sweet talk but I can't seem to find any extra time to further discuss my proposition." I moved coolly to go sit across from him on the opposite couch, my fingers tightly wrapped in a fist in the pocket of my jacket. **

** "Alright." I said as if prodding him to continue,**

** "I want your answer for our little deal." Smirking I sat back, attempting to look completely under control of this situation, **

** "You hardly gave me time to consider it, not even 24 hours." I remarked, Francis looked hurt, another ruse. **

** "Oh but you see I am all of a sudden being rushed out of town." He winked, "A friend of mine from France desperately is requiring my assistance." A sellable story, but I wasn't in the market for cheese. **

** "Please send him my best wishes." I told him attempting to sound as cool as possible. **

** "I shall." Francis nodded, "Now, about that deal." He was obviously in too much of a hurry to pretend to kiss my ass, so I wrapped it up.**

** "I'm not a monkey that can be torn away from justice by low-life rich sons of bitches like you Francis. I cost more than money. So don't hold your breath about that deal because you'll sooner turn blue and die than me accepting dirty money from a man that would sell his own grandmother's teeth to make a quick buck." I internally smiled at myself, but Francis didn't even look fazed at my sudden furious exterior. **

** "I see." Francis, "Then we are no longer n a first name basis, Mr. Jones. Please refer to me as Bonnefoy and as well as that you will be seeing a few of my friends few shortly in regards to make you…reconsider this horrible decision." I stood and pointed at the door, **

** "Get out of my house, Bonnefoy." I snapped, "I hear you have a plane to catch." **

** "So I do." Francis smiled calmly and led his lackey out the door. Once I was sure he was gone I sat down again and moaned, what the HELL did I just get myself into?**


End file.
